Thill-coupung



(NQ Mael.)

J. S. PATTEN. THILL CUUPLING.

No. 514,493. Patented Feb. 13, 1894.2

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i Amm/vers.

Nrrnn raras JAMES S. PATTEN, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

THlLL-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,493, dated February 13, 1894.

Application filed April 11, 1893.

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JAMES S. PATTEN, of lSaltimore city, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in 'Phill-Couplings, of which the following is a specication.

My invention is an improvement in thill couplings and seeks to provide a simple construction of latch plate and actuating devices whereby the latch may be automatically set and released by the proper movementJ of the thills and whereby the latch and its actuating devices will operate efficiently to take up all wear and avoid rattling and the invention has for further objects other improvements and consists in the novel constructions and combinations of parts hereinafter described.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a top plan view and Fig. 3 is a side view of my coupling. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the thill iron with the latch and spring in position for application to the seat. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the latch and Fig. 6 illustrates the manner of automatically setting and releasing the latch.

The clip A is provided with the seat B for the thill iron such seat being preferably formed with the hooks b as shown. The thill iron C is provided with the head to lit the seat B such head having studs D to lit in the hooks Z) and being provided with lateral lugs d to bear in front of the hooks b as shown.

The latch Eis pivoted or hinged at its front edge at c to the thill head such hinge being preferably eected by providing the latch with a stem F which is bent around a central circular portion f of the thill head and permits the pivotal or hinge movement of the latch as desired. At its ends the latch has bearings e which rest and move snugly against the studs D steadying the latch in position and preventing any lateral rocking or tilting thereof. Upon the latch at its ends and next to its swinging edge are provided the upwardly extended lugs or projections c2 which serve as abutments to engage the points of the hook in the application of the thill to the seat and cause the free edge of the latch to adjust backward against the spring. At its rear edge the latch is beveled forming an inclined surface which will wedge against the Serial No. 469,925. (No model.)

face of the clip, take up wear and prevent rattling.

A spring G is arranged to actuate the latch and is so connected with the thill that its free end bears upon the latch when the latter is set or in locked position and may move over and into engagement with the swinging edge of the latch to adjust the same to position to remove the thills. To permit the movement of the spring into engagement with the said swinging edge of the latch I provide a way for the spring. This way may be form ed bygrooving the face of the clip, but it is preferably attained by notching the swinging edge of the latch at eS so the point or end of the spring may ride past the swinging edge of the latch and between the same and the clip. This spring is secured at one end to the thill and bears at its other or free end upon the latch and is preferably made in two sections Gr and G2 which may be integral or may be separate and suitably secured together. The section G presses at its point or free end upon the latch and is secured at its other end to the lower end of section G2 the other end of which section is fixed rigidly to the thill the lower end of the section G2 being bowed out to give it greater tension. This construction it will be seen per mits of greater tension with less spring metal than if a single spring section were used.

In operation when the latch is set and the parts are in the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6, the spring bearing rnily upon the latch will press the same down and cause it to take up the wear, and hold the parts so tightly together as to prevent rattling. If it be desired to remove the thills it is only necessary to lift them until the spring passes the rear edge of the latch when the latter will be thrown into the position shown in full lines Fig. 6 and the thill may then be thrown back to or nearly to a vertical position and lifted from the clips. In applying the thills to the clip the latch being in the position shown in Fig. 4 it will be seen that if the thill head be applied to the clip the lugs on the latch engaging the points ot the hooks will cause the latch to tilt back to the position shown in full lines Fig. 6. Now it the thills be lowered from the full line to the dotted line position Fig. 6 the point of the spring will adjust upon ing the sameset. Thus, it, wilbe'senbothY the application and emQvaJ'offthethils are,

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provided withlatezal fshuuldexfs #te haar in f frantoi zhe hookgand the latchhnged at ou edge to the thilI and provided with the projections or lugs by which to engage the points of the hook substantially as set forth.

- 6, In a ,thm Lewpnzrgf ,me thm irnnrhaving stantialy as ksent forth.

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said rstsection-aud zfrauged 513121230121191* end' Y ,to'bear upon and :lamme ythe iatchubsmn f tialy as set frthfi f f f` 'JAB/IESS;"PATTEN4 Witnesses:

MORTON SCHAEFFER, J AMES P. CURLEY.

,i afpvotedflatch and providedV with asprigfo ,actuating the sameaid Spring" being'omnedt in' two secins' lonelof kwhich is seurel to the, y th'il and tha` otherfbeng.secured'at'one 'end ,to therst sectinanfl ammx'gefat tglother or free'end ,tu engagefiahe latch all substane. tially as set forth.

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65 i L v head proviedfwifth a lafmhv plate hinged ab onepedgean 'having its; other edgebeveled" 1 Iorinlined andthe Spring by which to actuL atefsaidlatch platesubstantialy as seatimm.V 

